Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Former prosecutor feels heat over Russia involvement

New York Post

A prominent Manhattan white-collar criminal defense lawyer is the subject of a federal court grievance complaint, The Post has learned.

John Moscow, a former prosecutor now working at BakerHostetler, shouldn’t be allowed to represent several companies accused of funneling dirty Russian cash into the US to buy pricey Manhattan real estate, according to the complaint.

Moscow was hired in November 2008 by a hedge fund mogul to investigate the Russian money trail.
That conflict of interest should bar him from his current role as defense counsel to the allegedly dirty companies, William Browder, the feisty hedge fund manager who hired him, claims.

Browder says he gave Moscow confidential information that led to federal charges against Prevezon Holdings, part of the allegedly shady real estate scheme.

Moscow represents Prevezon and a slew of other defendants in a civil forfeiture case brought by US Attorney Preet Bharara.

“The same guy I was baring my soul to is now turning to the other side,” Browder told The Post.
“It’s the most shocking thing I’ve ever seen in the legal profession.”

Browder hired Moscow to help him win the freedom of his hedge fund’s lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, who was arrested in Russia.

Browder said following the money trail through subpoenas was one of the tactics Moscow had suggested to locate the persons behind the lawyer’s imprisonment.

The lawyer had been looking into an identity theft ring that hit Browder’s Hermitage hedge fund — at the time a large investor in Russia.